1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a device for holding a bar coded label on an edge of a circuit board or the like, to permit the bar coded label to be read accurately by electronic bar code reading devices.
2. Background Art
Bar code data, in the form of spaced bars contrasting with the background on which they are printed, or the like, have been known for many years. Their use became more extensive when bar code readers or "wands" capable of reading bar codes with very high information density became commercially available. A wand generally takes the form of a pencil-shaped element having electrical leads extending from the top of a housing and connecting internally with an optical reading head responsive to the information encoded in the bar code pattern. By simply moving across the surface of the label, the wand detects and decodes the information for display or storage. Bar codes have been used on equipment, inventoried parts, consumer goods, and a wide variety of other items. By means of bar coding, the efficiency of such processes as inventory control, production, and assembly may be enhanced. Also, bar coding may permit any organization to more easily route and keep track of large numbers of articles of any kind.
In the electronics industry it is common for a given facility to have a multitude of storage racks containing printed circuit (p.c.) boards. When stored in these racks, usually only one edge of each printed circuit board is visible. While use of bar coded labels on p.c. boards would greatly enhance inventory control efficiency, they generally require a wider mounting surface than that afforded by the edge of the board. Placing the label on the flat surface of the board would not be efficient because the surfaces are not accessible when the boards are stored in racks.
To further enhance inventory control, it would be desirable to have inventory-control or part numbers of a printed circuit board visible in both machine-readable (bar coded) and human-readable form, both accessible without removing the boards from their storage rack.